What IS Antifa anyway?

You know how every now and then we talk about how we’re happy that the answer to one of the questions we’re asking is way easier than we anticipated? And then we manage to spin a 10 minute yarn out of what we just said is an easy question to answer?

Well… this is not one of those questions.

As I’m prepping this section of the pod, I’ve got...15 different tabs up right now from various news papers, journals, and authors that each attempt to answer this question. And for all the things that they have in common, they’ve each somehow managed to land on different answers.

 

For me, the simplest way to start this conversation is to say, “hey - remember our episode on the Boogaloo movement?  This topic is kinda like that, but with left and far left political perspectives rather than far right.” We’ve got a general umbrella of ideology, some local and regional groups with actual structures but no overarching capital A Antifa organizational structure or guidance, and a tendency to pull in folks with more extreme perspectives than the mainstream. 

While there is a tendency in the media - especially media with a conservative-leaning perspective - to refer to Antifa as a singular, organized, or coordinated effort, the reality is that (much like the groups we talked about in our episode about the Boogaloo movement) the primary thread that connects groups of people under the Antifa banner is an anti-fascist ideology and an activitsm-based rejection of what they perceive to be white supremacist or racist people, practices, or ideologies.

 

According to Mark Bray, who wrote the book on Antifa - literally. He wrote a book called “Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook.” According to Mr. Bray, antifa’s “adherents are predominantly communists, socialists and anarchists who reject turning to the police or the state to halt the advance of white supremacy. Instead, they advocate popular opposition to fascism...” (Bray, 2017) 

 

The common theme in all the definitions boils down to preventing the exploitation of, or harm to, socially disadvantaged groups. So anti-facist, while it does have the very literal definition of being “against facisism,” is also anti-racist, anti-LGBTQ+...phobic, anti-xenophobic, anti-sexist and, yes, more often than not, anti-capitalist.

That last one may seem a little less clear to some listeners, and without saying whether their feelings are right or wrong, it essentially boils down to the belief that a small group of people take advantage of the labor of a large group of people in order to serve themselves, and in doing so abuse the larger workforce. This would be why there’s a lot of overlap with socialists in people who claim to be antifa. Of course it’s more complicated than that, but this is not the episode where we talk about the nuance of capitalistic societies and the critiques thereof. We’ve got enough on our plates here without stepping on that particular landmine.

Suffice it to say, antifa activists are out there fighting against what they consider to be oppression on behalf of all people (except the fascists). 

What ISN’T Antifa?

 

Understanding antifa is easier if you also understand what Antifa is not. For one, as we mentioned earlier, Antifa is not a singular group. There is no Antifa uniform, no branding or membership rolls for Antifa overall, no Antifa generals (which is one of the more absurd phrases to come out of the run up to the 2020 election), no centralized Antifa network. There is no place you can go to speak to a manager of Antifa. There is a flag, but not even everyone uses that. 

 

This is muddled, of course, by the former administration's insistence of referring to it as an organization and trying to designate Antifa as a domestic terrorist organization. Which leads me to a meatier discussion point: Antifa isn’t a terrorist organization.

Now before you shut off the podcast and decry our (my) liberal bias, listen to what I’m saying, and remember that national security is my job. I know some of you are out there saying “But you had no problem designating the Boogaloo boys as terrorists! And Antifa says they are not against using violence!” And you’re right, I didn’t hesitate, and I will explain why. 

 

But first: Terrorism is literally my day to day. As ridiculous as I feel saying it (because hello imposter syndrome), I’m an “expert” on terrorism. Gross. Now, I’m not trying to misrepresent myself here, and I don’t want to give the impression that I can give you the ins and outs of the Real Irish Republican Army hierarchy or the movements of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps or even that I have some sort of special knowledge of ISIS. That’s not my jam, not how my particular job works. What I can tell you is that there are very, very particular criteria for what makes a group a terrorist organization, and how that works.

 

Let’s dive into that for a second, because I want to be crystal clear on this point. We strive for credibility here, and I know that this particular section is going to cost us some credibility to some listeners.

 

We’re going to set aside, for the moment, that there is no Federal law allowing the government to designate domestic terrorist organizations at the moment. The only authority we have given ourselves is the ability to designate foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs) or Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs). (Doxsee, 2020)  We derive these powers from either the Immigration and Nationality Act (Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism, 2008) or Executive Order 13224 (Bureau of Counterterrorism, 2001). This very clearly only applies to foreign organizations. We do, however, have definitions for domestic terrorists, which I will get to shortly.

So, let us assume that these other two authorities apply to domestic organizations for the purposes of argument. Generally speaking, for an organization to be defined as an FTO, it must meet three criteria:

1. It must be a foreign organization (we’re setting aside the “foreign” requirement right now.)
2. The organization must engage in terrorist activity, as defined in section 212 (a)(3)(B) of the INA (8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(3)(B)),or terrorism, as defined in section 140(d)(2) of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1988 and 1989 (22 U.S.C. § 2656f(d)(2)), or retain the capability and intent to engage in terrorist activity or terrorism.
3. The organizations terrorist activity or terrorism must threaten the security of U.S. nationals or the national security (national defense, foreign relations, or the economic interests) of the United States.

(Bureau of Counterterrorism, n.d.)

 

Ok, so extrapolating from here, “antifa” does not meet the first definition of an organization. We’ve hammered on this a million times already. Now, there are organizations that use Antifa in their name, and claim the title, such as Rose City Antifa. Now, just know that we’re using them as an example, not making a judgement call about that organization. They are good to use for illustration.

 

So, what this means, simply, is that you cannot designate all of Antifa as a terrorist organization, because there is no “all” of antifa. There’s no one person you can point to that could issue an order and everyone affiliated with Antifa would follow that order, for example. What you could do, however, is designate Rose City Antifa (again, not making the claim that they are, just an example) as a terrorist organization. This is because Rose City Antifa is a discrete organization that is using the identifier of antifa.

 

Now the various definitions of terrorist activity get pretty nitty gritty, but for our purposes, I’ll simplify: highjacking, sabotage, taking captives for ransom, attacking an internationally protected person (which has a totally different set of definitions. Think foreign officials, guests, head of government. That tier), assassinations, using biological, chimical, or nuclear weapons; use of firearms to endanger people or cause substantial damage to property; or conspiracy to do any of the above. (Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism, 2008)

 

Right now, all I can find to support that people using the Antifa identifier have engaged in these activities are one potential murder and maybe property damage. These arguments would be difficult to prove in court due to mitigating circumstances. In the case of property damage, the main problem is the inability, or at least extreme difficulty, to directly link it to any Antifa organization. Trying to make this assertion on circumstantial evidence is… tenuous at best. No antifa organization has come forward to say, “yeah we burned down that police station” for example. And outside of somebody coming forward, claiming the destruction, and then saying they did it because of Antifa, I don’t think that argument is going to stand up.

In the case of the single murder I found, witness reports and testimony are conflicting, and there are zero smoking gun indicators that the murderer acted because of antifa and not another reason. (Wikipedia, 2021)  Remember, we’re operating in the legal realm right now, and without the ability to prove something “beyond a reasonable doubt,” we can’t make a judgement call.

 

One of the things that allows us to designate ISIS as a terrorist organization is their willingness to claim events that fit these definitions. The act was committed because ISIS existed. Without ISIS, the person who perpetrated the act would not have done so. See how that distinction is critical? If a person blows up a building, that’s a crime and can and should be punished under applicable laws, including terrorism. If a person blows up a building because of their affiliation with a group, then we have an argument for determining a terrorist organization.

 

The final point is by far the easiest to make that a hypothetical Antifa organization is a terrorist organization. That standard says a terrorist organization must “threaten the security of U.S. nationals or the national security.” (Bureau of Counterterrorism, n.d.) If there were an overarching organization for antifa, I think there would be a pretty strong argument to say that they threaten the security of U.S. nationals. As much as we don’t want to admit it, the people that Antifa stand against, like Neo-Nazis and white supremacists, are largely US nationals. And, again from a general perspective, Antifa does threaten their security. That is fairly explicitly the common theme from all people claiming antifa. “F the Nazis. We do not want them to exist.”

 

So, by the existing laws that we have, Antifa can’t meet the standards to be designated as a terrorist organization. It’s about as black and white as it gets. However, it is entirely possible for a single group, like Rose City Antifa, to be designated a terrorist organization. IF a group, we’ll call them Aggro Antifa, so if our imaginary group “Aggro Antifa” were to set up a formalized organizational structure, then start attacking Nazis every time they marched, blew up Nazi headquarters, and generally endangered the securty of US national Nazis, then Aggro Antifa, specifically, could be designated a terrorist organization (if we ignore the requirement of needing to be foreign). This would mean that anyone associating with Aggro Antifa would be associating with a known terrorist organization, and would face the repercussions thereof.

What it would not mean, however, is that everyone claiming the antifa identifier would be a designated terrorist. Rose City Antifa would not be subject to legal ramifications that Aggro Antifa was, because Rose City Antifa is a discrete group. 

 

Hypothetically, if Antifa were to set up a formal national organizational structure that all members of antifa belonged to, one could designate antifa at large as a terrorist organization (again, only if we ignore that there’s no real legal way for this to happen at the moment) if they met the other standards. 

 

And there is something else to consider, as well. An individual actor can still be designated a terrorist by US law. (18 U.S. Code § 2331 - Definitions, n.d.) Because Antifa itself is not an organization, even if someone did blow up a building and claimed it was because of Antifa, Antifa could not be held responsible at large, because there is no broader organization. The individual would be held responsible, however, and certainly would be charged with terorrism in our system. That person would absolutely be a terrorist; claiming antifa ideology does not absolve them of the terrorist handle. If that person were part of Aggro Antifa, then Aggro Antifa could be held responsible, depending on the circumstances around the person’s involvement with them and the role Aggro Antifa played in having the terrorist activity happen.

 

“But Jon,” you say, “You still said all of the Boogaloo Boys were terrorists, even though they are loosely affiliated and don’t always have a whole organization. You’re still being hypocritical.” I get where that feeling comes from. But think about this for a moment, the whole point of the Boogaloo movement is the push for another civil war. By declaring allegiance to the boogaloo movement, you are declaring not only that you believe in the ideology, but that you are actively working to undermine US national security. That makes you, by definition, a terrorist. The stated goal of antifa, such as they are, are fairly explicitly against groups like Neo-nazis and white supremacists, not the entirety of the US government itself. Antifa does not exist to bring down the US government, so mere affiliation with the identifier does not automatically bring you to that threshold of terrorist. A person’s activities and the methods they choose to pursue those goals, however, could.

 

I’m sure there are people railing against me right now. Good people. I know there’s a lot of anger and hurt and fear driving a lot of the nation’s thoughts right now. But there is a lot more to this than simply saying “everyone that claims this identifier is bad.” Especially since that identifier is, quite literally, anti-fascist. There are many, many reasons not to designate Antifa as a terrorist organization, but first among them, I think, would be inadvertently making it against the law to be against fascism. Anyone who spoke or acted out against fascism would immediately fall under the umbrella of an Antifa designation. We’d be legislating that you’d have to be pro-fascism or be labeled a terrorist.

I know, I know the imagery from the summer of 2020 is seared into the collective memory of Americans. Buildings on fire, tear gas being launched, police in riot gear. There is, I think, a well intended, but ultimately misguided, desire to blame all of antifa for that. People need a responsible party, and are unwilling or unable to consider the possibility that the people to blame might not be the same people in the scary images. Unfortunately, even if somehow “antifa” was designated as a terrorist organization, it would do very little to address the underlying issues of systemic, long term inequality that created the conditions for those protests to happen.

 

Bibliography

Bray, M. (2017). What the "alt-left" antifa activists actually believe. The Washington Post. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bwh&AN=wapo.3ee6ecf0-82b9-11e7-902a-2a9f2d808496&authtype=cookie,cpid&custid=s4132146&site=ehost-live

Brighton (UK) Antifascists. (2020, February 24). Exclusive interview with the amazing Rose City Antifa. Brighton Antifascists. Retrieved February 21, 2021, from https://brightonantifascists.com/2020/02/24/exclusive-interview-with-the-amazing-rose-city-antifa/

Bureau of Counterterrorism. (n.d.). Foreign Terrorist Organizations. US Department of State. Retrieved February 21, 2021, from https://www.state.gov/foreign-terrorist-organizations/

Bureau of Counterterrorism. (2001, September 23). Executive Order 13224. US Department of State. Retrieved February 21, 2021, from https://www.state.gov/executive-order-13224/

Doxsee, C. (2020, December 1). Bad Idea: Domestic Terrorist Organization Designations. Defense 360. Retrieved February 21, 2021, from https://defense360.csis.org/bad-idea-domestic-terrorist-organization-designations/

18 U.S. Code § 2331 - Definitions. (n.d.). Legal Information Institute. Retrieved February 21, 2021, from https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/2331

Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism. (2008, April 8). Immigration and Nationality Act Section 212. US Department of State Archive. Retrieved February 21, 2021, from https://2001-2009.state.gov/s/ct/rls/fs/08/103399.htm

Southern Poverty Law Center. (2013, May 16). Roots of the ARA. Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved February 21, 2021, from https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2013/roots-ara

Stout, J. (2020, June 24). A Brief History of Anti-Fascism. SmithsonianMag.com. Retrieved February 21, 2021, from https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/brief-history-anti-fascism-180975152/

Torch Network. (n.d.). History. Torch Network. Retrieved February 21, 2020, from https://torchantifa.org/history/

Wikipedia. (2021, February 8). Killings of Aaron Danielson and Michael Reinoehl. Wikipedia. Retrieved February 21, 2021, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killings_of_Aaron_Danielson_and_Michael_Reinoehl